Homeschool Unrefined

In this installment of our Summer Nature Series, we talk through these three very important chapters of How to Raise a Wild Child in which Scott Sampson addresses the phases of childhood and how we can best support kids in each stage of their nature journey.  There are so many ways we can learn from this book as homeschool parents and in life!  Hummingbird Parenting, Family Nature Clubs, and the P...

This Summer Mode schedule is giving us life.  We discuss what's going well, what needs tweaking, and we have a much needed self-care check-in.  We also dive into a listener question on how we deal with competitive kids.  Do YOU have a question you'd like us to answer this summer?  Post here or send us a DM! We'd love your support on  Patreon here . We'd love to have you follow along for our Nature...

We are looking back to when we needed to stop ourselves from getting super stressed out about every single thing, and refocus on what's really important.  This is reoccurring issue, so we needed to hear this from ourselves again.  Hope this helps you, too! Today's podcast is brought to you by audible - get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at  www.audibletrial.com/homeschoolunrefined...

In this favorite listener episode we hand out all the permission slips to do less, relax more, so that we can enjoy this time we have so carefully carved out for our families and for ourselves.  We dig into what the purpose is for homeschooling in the first place, so we can make some tough decisions about what NOT to do. Everlane: The Cotton V T-shirt Bittersweet  by Shauna Niequist Hello Fresh  ...

Join us for our Summer Book Club: How to Raise a Wild Child.   In this episode, we address how schools are helping/hindering the love of nature, very easy ways to incorporate nature into our everyday lives, and how our frame of mind is a huge factor in helping our kids get on board.  Read along with us this summer, or just listen in for the highlights!  Either way, you'll get so much out of this b...

We're in Summer Mode, and you know what that means.  We dive into our series topics: what's going well and what needs tweaking.  We want you to be part of our Summer Mode series, too, so we're answering listener questions!  This week's question addresses the universal homeschool worry about how much is too much seat work. We created a  Patreon Page  and we'd love to have your support! In return, w...

We all know getting into nature is good for us.  But do we really know why?  And how do we overcome all the hurdles of actually making it happen?  We are kicking off our summer book club with an inspiring discussion of chapters 1 & 2 of How to Raise a Wild Child by Scott D. Sampson.  Read along throughout the summer, or just listen in to grab the highlights. We created a  Patreon Page  and we'd lo...

Are you in Summer Mode?   Join us as we kick off this new series with real talk about boredom, rhythm & reading and what that looks like in this season.   In Summer Mode, we'll discuss what's going well, what needs tweaking, and we'll answer a listener question.   As always, we'll share our LTWs throughout the summer.   Let's do this summer together! Next week, we will be chatting about nature and...

Christy Thomas is the guru for play, and we are so happy to have her on the podcast. Christy shares with us the power of play and why it is vital to our families. She helps us process through our angst of needing to do all the "important" things first and how we can make play a priority. If you need a little nudge in the right direction, a pass to play, this is it! We created a  Patreon Page  and...

This week we're getting to some of the homeschool related questions you all sent in.  We talk about things like what our typical days look like, if we ever homeschool into the summer, choosing curricula and more of what we don't do.   We created a  Patreon Page  and we'd love to have your support! In return, we're recording new podcast episodes we're calling Homeschool Unrefined: Off the Record. P...

We are giving ourselves all the permission to wind down as needed (or desired) in this episode!  We process through the angst of ending school, and hope to reach a comfort zone of activities and down time for the summer.  What would you like your summer will look like?  Busy? Nothing on the calendar?  Somewhere in between? We created a  Patreon Page  and we'd love to have your support! In return,...

You've decided to homeschool, but now what?  Listen to this episode where we dive into a simple, doable way to get started.  We address different ages, preferences, and needs (including your own).  And we pose some great questions that will help point you in the right direction.  Veteran homeschoolers, this is a great episode to share with a friend and it will help reboot your own homeschool! We c...

Listeners new and old will enjoy getting to know us better in this bonus episode.  Things we cover: where (exactly) we met, our favorite go-to meals, whether or not our husbands are friends and just how many pair of Costco socks we own.  Listen in for all of that and more (including which SNL character Maren used to perform on stage). We hope you have as much fun listening to this episode as we di...

If you've been around the homeschool community for any length of time, you probably know Jamie Martin and her work as the editor at simplehomeschool.net .    For many years, Jamie and her team of writers have been encouraging parents in keeping homeschool less complex and more joyful. We loved talking with Jamie about personalities, essentialism, Thomas Jefferson Education and what simple homescho...

Thinking about homeschooling, but worried that because you're not a superhero, maybe it's not for you?  We're here for you!  We'll hash out those, "I want to homeschool, but I could never..." moments.  We'll calm your nerves.  We won't coax you into homeschool, but we will encourage some healthy ways to cope with the things that might be setting you back.  And we'll reflect on the ways homeschool...

We are so excited to share this episode with you.  Julie is a trailblazer in the homeschool world.  She gives us all permission to make learning fun, interesting, and something we could do forever (not that we needed permission, but sometimes we think we need permission)!  While she focuses on writing, her philosophy is all-encompassing, and her spark is catchy.  Listen to this episode if you need...

Does that fact that your kids fight feel helpless sometimes? Us too.  There is no shame in that. Join us as we process through the ups and downs of fighting.  The reasons fighting could happen, why it might not be the worst thing in the world, and how we deal with fighting in our own homes.  This episode calmed our own nerves about this inevitable topic, we hope it does the same for you! Today's p...

We can't get enough of Amanda Ginn's perspective on children and how they learn.  Amanda reminds us we are not in control of everything, and she also points out how natural and right and scary and freeing it is.  Join us for an invigorating conversation about trusting our children.  Get ready for a ton of "aha" moments! Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue John Holt's Books Free to Learn by Peter Gr...

Feeling torn about how screens play a part in your family?  Us too!  In this episode we share all our feelings on the topic.  No judgments here, just an honest conversation about the push and pull of our technology-infused culture and how we're handling it today.   Loving This Week Maren: Athleta Angela: Brook Modern Solid Wood Dining Chair   Visit our website Join our closed Facebook group:  Unre...

Have you ever wondered what teens think of homeschooling? Today you're in for a treat. Angela's daughter is on the podcast and she reveals her thoughts - what she likes and dislikes about school, parents and siblings.  She also gives us a bunch of great teen book, podcast and toy recommendations. This would be an excellent episode to share with your homeschooled kids. Head over to Instagram where...

It's time to confess! In this episode Angela and Maren divulge the one thing they wish they could do over.  As usual, they do this with lots of grace.  Listen in to hear what they are working to change on their journey.   Today's podcast is brought to you by audible - get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at  www.audibletrial.com/homeschoolunrefined   Over 180,000 titles to choose fr...

Sometimes, we need to start over with a clean slate. In this episode, Maren and Angela chat about what a reset is, when we need one, and how it helps us gain perspective.  Feeling the need for a reset?  Listen in on this helpful conversation!   Loving This Week Angela: Kite Hill Cream Cheese Maren: Black Panther   Visit our website Join our closed Facebook group:  Unrefined Homeschoolers Follow us...

Listen in on part two of our conversation with Krista O'Reilly-Davi-Digui as we dive deeper.  Krista talks more about how really knowing our children helps them know and love themselves.  You do not want to miss out on all her priceless wisdom and perspective. If you have not listened to Part 1 of this interview, you can do so at this link . The Writer's Jungle A Brave Writer Podcast: 55 Things I...

Krista O'Reilly-Davi-Digui is a blogger and Joyful Living Educator. She continuously shares words of wisdom on living a full, purposeful life, and homeschooled her own children for 15 years.  In this episode, Krista specifically talks with us about how to be a student of your child.  She had so much goodness to share with us, we decided to split up our conversations into two episodes.  We didn't w...

It's February and we decided a little curriculum check-in was in order.   We've made some major and minor tweaks since the start of the year and we thought we'd chat about all of that together.   We start off talking about our general philosophy on curriculum and what we mean when we mention it. Then we spill the beans on exactly what we're using (or not using) for each subject for each of our kid...